Life and Death
by Furor Scribiendi
Summary: 2/5 - "What do want me to say? Something you would like to hear? Or something else that you may regret?" Duo paused, glancing up at her briefly. "I can't lie Morgan. Don't ask me to tell you the truth."


A/N: Ossu once more minna-san!! ^^ Here's the second part to this thing that I've had for the longest time ever. It was seriously sitting around in my room and collecting dust. And so I finally am getting around to it. And there's three more to type up also. . .I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. O.o 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~   
Life and Death   
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Morgan watched as the boards moved with creaking noises as Amber paced back and forth. She gave a low growl as she glared up at her friend. 

"Would you stop walking back and forth like she's not coming back?" 

"How the hell am I supposed to know that?" Amber said in a slightly snappish voice. "We got caught in the crowd and we don't know what's what. Bugger off. If you want to sit there and act like your voice left then fine by me." 

"Why the hell are you yelling at me?" she snarled back. "This was supposed to be a normal day for once. No strings attached, no work to do. We were supposed to be normal teenagers and now this shit happens. You think I like it anymore than you?" 

"Of course you don't you dumbass!" Amber said as she finally stopped and stared back at Morgan. "But you using that tone doesn't help." 

"What tone are you talking about? If anything I should be busting your ass for a tone." 

"That tone where you sound like you're accusing me for this happening." 

"Me? Accuse you? Oh that's rich, you dumb bitch!" 

"Right back at you bitch!" Amber said in an angry voice. "The one suggestion I make and it blows up in my face! How do you think I feel with all that's happened in my life? You think I like the fact that the damn fucking battle crashed our normal day? I don't need your goddamn criticism and attitude at the moment, so shove it and let me pace while you sit there and sulk." 

"Oh, forgive me, I thought after all we've been through, you may have grown a backbone, but you're still sniveling over the things that happened in your life. Get over yourself Amber and move on." 

Amber's face went pale white as her hands clenched into tight fists. "How dare you accuse me of sniveling, you no good-" 

"What are you two arguing about now?" 

Morgan turned around to see Sara standing at the bottom of the steps with a curious look on her face, the wolf under her arm. 

"Sara!" 

A stab of regret took hold of her as Amber ran down the stairs and hugged Sara around the stuffed animal. _'She has been through a lot though. . .'_ Walking down the stairs, she managed a smile as she gave Sara her hug. 

"What the hell happened to you? We couldn't find you at the carnival afterwards." 

"I got patched up." Sara said with a small shadow of a smile on her face. "Were you guys waiting here for me long?" 

"No." 

"Yes." 

Morgan glared back at Amber as she shot her a look for the 'yes'. Brushing it aside, she looked back at Sara. "What happened to your wrist? Did you sprain it?" 

"Yeah. How about we go in and then we can all talk. Come on." 

Morgan opened her mouth to protest but thought the better of it. She didn't speak or look at Amber as they walked into the house and sat in the living room. 

"Do you guys want anything to eat?" Sara's voice floated down the hallway as she headed to the kitchen. 

"No, thank you though." she said as she shifted in her seat. 

A strained silence descended on the living room as she and Amber made the obvious effort to avoid each other's eyes. A small clatter made her look up to see Sara coming back with a tray in her hand. 

"What are you doing?" Amber said as she got up and took the tray. "Give me that; you'll make your sprain worse." 

"She's a big girl Amber. If she wants to carry the tray, then leave her be." 

"Don't you start. So what did you want to talk about Sara?" 

Morgan rubbed her temple as she closed her eyes; suddenly she had a massive headache and dire need of an aspirin. Excusing herself, she headed upstairs and went for the medicine cabinet, taking one of the pills and coming back down. 

"So Morgan, what's this I hear about some guy named Duo?" 

Morgan looked up suddenly at Sara before she caught the faint gleam of triumph in Amber's eyes. _'Bitch. . .'_ Taking her seat, she managed to keep a straight face despite the paling she felt occurring. "Duo is the guy I'm working with for the history project." 

"Really?" Sara asked with an amused light in her voice. 

"Really. Did Miss Loud Mouth there tell you that?" she gave Amber an oblique glance. "If she did, then she's wrong. We were assigned to work together. Actually, I'd better tell you the whole story before you receive anymore false or misleading information." 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With a slight yawn, Morgan made her way down to her desk, placing her hot chocolate down along with her muffin. She slung her bag over the back and plopped herself down in the seat, cradling the Styrofoam cup in her hands. She watched as the class trickled in one by one until the teacher finally came in and sat down his coffee in hand. 

"All right then. I think now's the time to tell you all about the projects you get to work on and hand in." 

A collective groan went up from the students as they took their pens out and wrote as the teacher talked. Morgan had just started on her muffin when a small ball of paper came flying at her and landed in her empty cup. She looked up to see Amber snickering slightly before she made a motion to open the small ball lying at the bottom of her cup. 'Is it me or is his hair thinning out more than usual?' She crumpled it with a muted laugh as she nodded her head. 

"Mr. Johansen, can we work in partners?" someone in the back of the class asked. 

'That's a good idea. And since we don't want anyone goofing off, I think I'll select the pairs." he said as he picked up the attendance sheet. "I'll just go by the list here, starting from the top. Ah. . .Wufei Chang and Amber Clarke." 

Morgan looked over to see her friend banging her head against her heavy math book repeatedly as she muttered something to herself. Taking out a piece of paper, she scribbled down _'Ha ha, best of luck. ^^'_ before she balled it up and threw it at her. She nearly broke out laughing when it bounced off Amber's head and landed at Wufei's feet and Amber's subsequent efforts to get the message. 

"And finally Duo Maxwell and Morgan O'Brien. Now that you have everything, I'll let you get to it." 

Morgan found herself looking around as everyone paired up. _'Where's my partner?'_ She waited until the people were sitting quietly before she looked around once more. There in the farthest seat in the back was a slouched figure, a hat over their eyes. _'Twenty bucks says that's my partner.'_ Getting up, she headed over, taking the time to pat Amber sympathetically on the shoulder as she passed by her and Wufei. A low chuckle came from her throat as she imagined the daggers that Amber must have been willing towards her. She took a seat in front of the sleeping person, peering at their face carefully. 

"Excuse me." she said in a soft voice. 

Not receiving a response, she lifted the hat up slightly, seeing long bangs close to the face. With a frown, she looked over the person before she looked back at her starting point; the person was a guy that much was clear. Clearing her throat she tried again. 

"Excuse me." reaching forward, she patted his face gently. "Wake up." 

"I'm up." 

Morgan started as the person sat up suddenly, pushing the hat back on his head. "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't realize that. . .that. . .that. . ." she trailed off as he looked at her with a curious gaze. 

"That you woke me up?" he asked with a slight amused tone on his voice. 

"Y-Yeah." she managed as she shook her head. 

"Is something wrong?" he asked leaning forward. "You seem fine." 

"No, I'm fine. You just have really beautiful eyes." she said as the mortification followed split second later. "I'm sorry. I-I never meant to-" 

"Ah, it's all right. Usually it's me giving the compliments to a girl." he smiled. "It's nice to be on the receiving end for once. So what's this project we're working on? A civilization?" 

Morgan nodded. "There's plenty that needs to be done; how about we draw up a list of ideas and start from there?" 

"Sounds good." he said as he took out a pen. 

Morgan didn't say anything as she watched him scribble away. Shaking off the slight prickles she had, she focused herself on getting the work done. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"And that's how I met Duo. He was asleep in class when I first met him. Was that a good enough first impression for you guys?" Morgan asked as she looked around. "Or were you looking for more?" 

"Nope. Was he really asleep?" Sara asked. 

"Nah, I don't think he was. I honestly don't know." she said with a laugh. "Did you study for the test on Wednesday?" 

"Yeah." Sara said as she yawned. "I'm just finishing up for it and then I can go and fail it with some grace and dignity." 

"Isn't that always the story. And you know that damn dissection is going to be on it as well." Amber said as she started stretching. 

Morgan narrowed her eyes as she watched Amber. "So how's your history project going?" 

Amber flashed her the barest of looks. "Swimmingly. I have my work done as does the pain." 

"Look you guys, I think I am going to have to kick you out now. I feel tired and I want a nap." 

"No problem Sara, Just call us if you want anything all right." 

"Amber, she's not crippled you know." Morgan said in an irritated mutter as she rose also. "Call later and we'll do some final studying for that test all right?" 

"Would you guys get out already?" Sara said as she started for the door after them "I want to sleep!" 

"All right, all right. Later Sara." Morgan said as the door was shut. 

She paused as they stood on the porch, nothing said at all. Finally, Amber started to walk down the path for the sidewalk. 

"Amber." Morgan called as she reached the gate. 

"What?" 

She paused at the sound in Amber's voice, not sure of what to say. "Amber. . .I. . ." 

"Fine, tell me when you decide when you want to say it." 

Morgan watched as she walked down the street, feeling the urge to kick herself. How could she have been so cold towards Amber like that? _'Now I have to swallow my pride and apologize.'_ Morgan headed down the street, cursing her tongue for the umpteenth time. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

With a weary sigh, Morgan plunked herself down in the seat beside Hoshi in the cafeteria. "Hoshi. . .tell me why I took math again?" 

"Because you want to become a biologist." Hoshi said as she patted Morgan's shoulder. "Hang in there and you'll make it." 

"Thanks. Just needed that check. Do need it from time to time you know; see the goal before you lose sight of it." Morgan sighed as she slouched forward, knocking into something soft on the table. Looking down she saw Amber face rested on her arms, her eyes closed. "Is she. . ." 

"Yup. Came in at the start of the period and just went off. Though she told me to wake her at the end of the period." 

"Oh I see. Hey, do you have a marker on you?" she asked as an idea came to her. 

"No. Why do you want a marker?" Hoshi asked with a wary look. 

"Because this sleeping person once dyed my hair and I owe her for it!" 

"Are you talking abut the time she dyed your hair Morgan?" Trinity asked as she came and sat down. "Sorry I'm late. The teacher just let us go." 

"Is all right." Hoshi said. "And yes, that is what she's going on about again." 

"I have to admit though Morgan, you did look rather funny with blue and red hair." Trinity said as she snickered. 

"Thanks for making me the butt of your jokes." she muttered as she dug around for her wallet. "I'm going to go and get lunch. Is anyone-" 

"Here you are. I've been looking for you." 

Morgan looked up to see Duo standing at the end of the table, a set of papers in his hand. "What's that?" 

"The stuff I'm supposed to give you." he said a she placed it down with a smile. "Did you get your stuff done?" 

"Yup." she said as she nodded. "Is that all you could find on warfare and weapons?" 

"If you wanted me to go back for the next few hundred years where things are sketchy, then I don't. Otherwise yes, I have pretty much everything." 

"All right then, I'll see you later on tonight. Remember, six thirty." 

"Gotcha." he said with a wink before he walked away. 

Morgan found herself watching as he went before she looked back at her friends. "What?" she asked as she saw strange looks on their faces. 

"Are you sure you two are just going to work tonight?" Hoshi said as she nudged Morgan with her elbow. 

"You know. . .there was a funny look in her eyes there. Do you know what it was Hoshi?" Trinity asked with a gleam in her eye. 

"Why I think I do Trinity. I believe that-" 

They all stopped abruptly as Amber snorted and buried her face in her arms. "Damn him. . .show him. . .chopsticks can go up his. . .show the bastard. . ." 

"What on Earth is she muttering about?" Trinity asked with a giggle. "It sounds like she's out for blood." 

"I want to know about the chopstick thing. Does she always have food on her brain?" Hoshi asked as she poked Amber on the nose. 

"What kind of question is that?" Morgan asked as she shot Hoshi a look. "She always has food on the brain. I'm surprised that she's not up and eating at the moment." 

"Are you sure you want that Morgan?" Trinity asked with a laugh. "Are your really sure?" 

"Never mind." Morgan said as she held her head. "She has far too many strange things about her sometimes." 

"You noticed. Weren't we starting to pester you about Duo?" Hoshi asked as she shifted her attention back to what she and Trinity were doing before. 

Morgan started to smile as she gathered her things up; the last thing she needed now was to go through one of Trinity and Hoshi's grilling sessions. Excusing herself abruptly, she fled from the table, and headed for the library. _'Maybe now is the time to finish that stuff since Duo is coming by tonight.'_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"Morgan. Morgan. Moooorgan." 

"Yes Duo?" she asked looking up at the singsong tone in his voice. "Did you need help with something?" 

"Nope." he leaned forward. "Aren't you tired of working now?" 

"Duo, we need to get this done. There's still lots that has to be planned and all. Like if we're going to do this in a report or a presentation." 

"Yeah but we've been working since five thirty. It's now nine. Don't you think we should take a break?" 

"But we're on a roll Duo; do you really want to break that? We can get so much done." 

"I'm not denying that but I gotta get out of here before I go crazy. At least for a bit." 

Morgan found herself on the receiving end of a very convincing pleading expression. She placed her pen down solemnly as she faced Duo. "Are you feeling restless Duo?" 

"Yeah. There's only so much sitting down and staring at a textbook that I can take." 

A smile cracked on her face. "How about we go and get some ice cream?" 

"That sounds good. But what about your father?" Duo glanced back at the bedroom door. "I mean he wasn't thrilled when I showed up here to work. And I actually did work this time around." 

"Don't worry, he's asleep by now. And Mom's out working late so we'll just slip out the door and be back before twelve." 

"That late?" a nervous look swept over his face. 

"Of course not silly! Come on!" she said taking his hand as she pulled him behind her. 

She paused, peering into the living room, to find it empty. Skirting around the creaky spot in front of the door, she eased it open and motioned for Duo to get out. She breathed a sigh of relief a few minutes later when they were walking down the street, passing through the puddles of light on the street. 

"Hey, there's something else we can do while we get ice cream." Duo said suddenly a smile lighting his face. 

"What?" Morgan asked as she removed her top. "Man, it's a bit warm out tonight. Glad I wore a tank underneath this. What now Duo?" she asked as she saw his face flush slightly. "Are you cold or something?" 

"No. I'm fine. How about we go bowling?" 

"Bowling? At this time? I don't know about that Duo. . ." she paused. "I mean the alley is kinda far away from here and-" 

"You didn't ask this many questions when we snuck out the house. No excuses now!" 

"Duo!" she exclaimed with a laugh as he took her hand and raced down the street. "You're crazy, you know that?" 

"I get that from time to time." he said, glancing back and flashing her a grin. 

She couldn't help but shake her head as she ran with Duo, the street flashing past as they went. Soon enough, they collapsed down on the curb outside the building, leaning against each other. 

"Did your idea include arriving here breathless?" Morgan managed to gasp as she looked up at him. 

"Actually no. But the image of your father chasing us down if he found out was enough to get me running." 

Morgan chuckled as they caught their breath. She rose after a few minutes and gazed at the bowling alley sign. "Well now that we're here, I guess I should tell you this." 

"Tell me what?" Duo asked as he stood up and walked up to the door. 

"Well. . .ah. . .I'm not to sure how to put this." she said walking in as he held it open. "But. . ." 

"But?" Duo looked at her with an expectant look as he paid the man at the counter. 

Morgan started to frown slightly as she thought over what she said. It wouldn't exactly be a lie but it had been a very long time, and she was rapidly losing the battle with herself on the ethical grounds; she just wanted to do this. 

"Morgan, what is it? You're not dying or something are you?" 

She glanced up at him startled momentarily. "I can't really bowl." 

Her face went red as Duo stared at her for a few seconds. 

"You can't bowl? Guess I'll have to show you then huh?" he gave her a grin as she sat beside him. "Just find your shoe size and we'll get started." 

Morgan nodded as she picked out the size eights and slipped them on. She looked around as they walked out to their lane and hesitantly picked up a ball. She jumped slightly as she felt arms go around hers. She glanced back to see Duo with a gleam in his eye. 

"What? Do I have bad form or something?" 

"No. Your form is perfect. Now just follow my motions and we'll have you bowling in no time." 

She couldn't help but laugh as Duo rested his chin on her shoulder and started to whisper tips into her ear; what really made her blush was when his hands decided to take a somewhat prolonged rest on her hips. But every once in awhile a giggle would escape as they talked and slowly she learned to bowl again. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

With a slight yawn, Morgan shifted herself on the bed and picked up her book once more. _'It's too bad that I had to cancel on Duo tonight.'_ She smiled to herself as she remembered the whole time they were at the bowing alley. Aside from eating the corndogs and French fries, the mad dash back to her house had its entertaining moments but nothing quite topped the fact that Duo had to crawl down the trellis by her window at close to one in the morning after her mother had gone to sleep so he could simply leave. 

"Eh?" she glanced at the window as she heard a faint 'clink'. "Must be my imagination." 

She returned to her book but a few minutes later, the clink came once more followed by another and another. Irritated, she went to the window and yanked it open. 

"Duo, if this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny! It's like two in the morning!" 

"Oh, so now I'm Duo am I? Something you're not telling me Morgan?" 

She sank to the windowsill with a groan, her head against her forearms. "What do you want Amber?" she asked raising her head slightly. 

"Did you forget?" 

"Forget what? Come up here and talk to me face to face." 

She stepped back as she heard disgusted mutters that came swiftly up the trellis. She crossed her arms as she watched Amber make an ungraceful entrance and straighten out her clothing. Morgan uncrossed her arms as she took in note of Amber's clothing. 

"We have a mission don't we?" 

"Yup. Just some files. Nothing too big. Look on the bright side at least we don't have to blow something up." 

"Hm. Look Amber, about what I said earlier on in the week. . .I'm sorry." 

"I know you are. How many times have I put my foot in my mouth? You know that I've lost count. But still, it's nice to hear it from time to time." Amber flashed her a smile. "Besides, I figured all that time you spent with Duo would soften you a bit. The way you two were going, I'd say you'll be dating before the week is out." 

"Shut up Amber." she muttered as she went to her closet and pulled on a black shirt. "Where are we going tonight?" 

"Not far. The base around the corner so to say." 

"All right, I'll be down in a few minutes." she said heading to her closet. 

She riffed through her closet quickly, grabbing the formfitting black pants and shirt; she wasn't going to suffer the indignity of having a fold snag on the random loose nail again. _'File extraction. . .Amber will have her laptop so I'll take care of everything else, only she can deal with the blasted computer.'_ Pulling aside the loose plank in the wall, she keyed in the access code and opened the weapon filled secret panel. A few minutes later, she was balancing in the trellis before she jumped down and landed with a muffled thump. 

"Lardass, you're louder than me when you land." Amber murmured as she started for the gate. 

Morgan flashed her a look before she followed afterwards, not saying anything. But as they walked up the dark street, the faint sound of a thwap could be heard followed by muffled chuckles. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

The regular sound of boots against the floor could be heard easily enough. Morgan waited a bit before she peered around the corner. She motioned Amber after her as she stole down the hall, silent and moving rapidly. She cursed as she heard the more footsteps coming from the corner just up ahead. She made a motion for Amber to stay back before she jumped out startling the guards. Before they had a chance to react, they were sliding limply to the floor, knocked completely unconscious. 

"Get us into the room fast Amber." Morgan said as she looked around uneasily as Amber hooked up the decoding device. "There're more guards than they thought. I'm pretty sure you don't want to enjoy Oz' hospitality do you?" 

"Of course not." Amber replied absently as she went to work. "Just come over to my house afterwards and I'll tell your folks that you came by after Duo left. When did Duo leave anyways?" 

"Around one. Hurry up." The amount of guards she had seen coming in here did nothing to assuage the uneasiness inside. "We thought of stopping by and pestering you but we decided not to." 

"And why not?" Amber said as the door slid open. 

"We figured that it was more important to make it back to my house before my mother got back. Funny thing was, as soon as we closed my bedroom door, my mother came back. So I stuffed Duo in the closet and pretended that I was asleep." 

"He must have been thrilled." Amber said as she sat down at the computer console and hooked up her laptop. It wasn't long before the gentle click of keys filled the room. 

"Not from his point of view. By the way, he thinks you have a really nice house." 

"You showed him where I live?" 

"Well, if I'm not at my house, I'm at yours." Morgan shrugged. "What's the beeping noise for?" 

"Firewall to keep out hackers. It's a new one but I just went under it so I'm going to grab the files and then we book it out of here. Some of these programs have a silent alarm and this one is so new that even I don't know about it." 

"I don't like that coming from our tech head. Hurry up and then we're out of here." Morgan said. 

"Then let's hustle." Amber said as she disconnected her laptop and packed it away rapidly. 

She waited uneasily at the door as Amber came walked after her, slinging her bag on her back. She opened the door, only to slam her fist against the close button. Her heart started racing as the sound of bullets crashed against the door. 

"Are you sure you circumvented the alarm?" she asked Amber as she reached beneath her jacket and pulled out a gun, tossing one to her friend. 

"Yeah. But I said it was new so I'm not one hundred percent sure." Amber checked the gun over before she released the safety. "Shall we make them regret shooting at us?" 

"With pleasure." Morgan said with vindication as she readied her hold. 

Morgan hit the button once more, firing rapidly as it slid open, hitting some of the soldiers that were crouched in waiting. But what helped her more was the fact that the whole building started to shake suddenly as explosions started to wrack the compound. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Morgan darted through the soldiers knocking them out with swift hits of the butt of her handgun to their necks. 

"Now what the hell is going on?" she yelled as alarms started to scream throughout the building. 

"Someone's attacking the base. Isn't that much obvious?" Amber said with a rather breathless voice. "Look, split up and meet at my house. It'll be harder for them if they can't catch both of us at the same time." 

"Gotcha." Morgan said before she spilt off and ran down a corridor. 

She managed to make it through relatively unscathed before she made it outside. Melting back into the shadows she watched as mobile suits poured out, fighting against the dark silhouette she saw moving in the middle of the base. Brushing it aside she slunk along to the transport hangar, moving through the rows of heavy trucks before she paused by one of the cars. She slipped in, ripping out the panel and yanking down the wires. _'Where the hell are you guys?'_ She searched through the wires rapidly, not wanting to be in the building if it was hit by a missile. Finding the right wires, she slipped the wire cutters out from the sleeve pocket and cut them. Ina few tries, she had the car engine running smoothly. Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she gunned the engine before pulling out of the spot with a slight skid and bursting through the door. 

Pure chaos greeted her the moment she drove outside, mobile suits and explosions bursting all around her. She rolled down her window with one hand, leaning out in order to see; the glare from the window was too bright to see through. _'Shit, no wonder, it's a Gundam attacking.'_ She turned the wheel sharply as a mobile suit came crashing down in front of her, missing by a few feet. Mentally cursing to herself, she backed the car and drove off to the side as the reinforcements descended, making her job of getting out far more difficult. _'As if this wasn't enough of a pain already. . .'_ Glancing down into her rearview mirror, she saw the shots being fired, the large missiles overshooting their target and headed directly towards her. She ducked back in, gripping the wheel and flooring the gas pedal. 

The car shot forward, moving from side to side, barely missing the artillery as it came crashing down to the ground. She glanced outside, hearing one make a high whining sound. Gritting her teeth as she realized it was going to land in front of her, she slammed on the brakes, praying to God that the car would stop in time. She shielded her eyes as the missile impacted, the car plunging through the bright orange. The world jounced around as she grabbed the steering wheel and tried to keep the car under control. It finally slammed to a halt, her entire body propulsed forward into the wheel hard. 

"Ow." she muttered, rubbing her now sore head. "I didn't need that." 

Shaking her head, she tried to start the engine only to receive a half hearted sputtering sound and a smoke filled cough before the engine went dead. _'Just fucking great, I need this now!'_ She kicked the door open, staggering out of the car, ignorant of her body's painful protest. Everything seemed so fuzzy and blotched together. Strangely enough, the sound of battle was absent, the sound of the wind in the crater the only noise she heard. _'I'm getting out of here now.'_ She made her way to the sloping side, her vision sliding in and out erratically. She had just placed a foot on the side when the sound of someone falling down the side made her pause and look. 

"Who are you?" she drew her gun and trained it on them. "Get away, you aren't going to capture me that easily." 

She shook her head as the blackness came once more, not hearing the voice. She had to stay awake and escape; Amber wouldn't be too happy if she had to come back and bail her out. 

"Take one step further and I won't hesitate to shoot you." she said as her arms started to tremble slightly from trying to keep the gun still. 

The person didn't say anything, simply taking a step forward slowly. Morgan narrowed her eyes as she squeezed the trigger. The sound of feet crunching against gravel still came making her shoot once more. Feeling a wave of dizziness wash over her, she closed her eyes, shaking it off. When she opened them again, she noticed a large looming black shape at the edge, which started to blur rapidly. 

"Morgan-" 

She fired again, in surprise at hearing her name being called. That was the last thing she remembered before the blackness finally won and she fainted away. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A screeching sort of alarm made her wince as she pulled the soft material over her head. One of her hands pushed its way out from beneath the blankets and groped around for the source of the annoying noise. 

"Jesus. . ." she groaned as she found what she was looking for. "What was the license of that truck that hit me?" 

"I'd more call it a massive crater but if you want to call it a truck. . ." 

She paused, hearing Duo's voice, before she cautiously stuck her head out from beneath the sheets and found him seated on chair beside her bed. "Duo, what are you doing here? It's like," she glanced at the clock. "Ten in the morning." 

"I know. But you aren't home. You're at Amber's." 

"Amber's?" she repeated the word with a slightly puzzled frown. "Uh. . .where's Amber?" 

"At school. She didn't want to wake you up. You had a nasty bump on your head. Did you want some ice for that?" 

"Maybe that's why my head is throbbing so much then. I should be fine, thanks though." she said, sitting up against the headboard. "At least it's on a day I have math." 

They both chuckled at that before a somewhat tense silence descended. She watched as Duo flexed his fingers continually, not sure if she should speak up yet. 

"Did she. . ." she trailed off unsure of how to word it and not give herself away. 

"Amber said she called your parents and told them you were here. And that she would get your homework." 

"Gee, remind me to thank her." Morgan pulled at the hem of the blanket before she looked up at him. "Was it you there?" 

"Yeah, it was me. You nearly shot me too. Nearly shot me three times." 

Morgan winced as she saw him put his fingers in the three consecutive bullet sized holes through a flap of cloth in his shirt. "I'd apologize but I really don't think that's there's anything I can say to make up for that." 

"It's all right." he said, brushing away her words. "It wouldn't be the first time I had a gun pointed in my direction." 

"There's a comforting thought." she paused as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Just what do you remember of that night?" 

Duo's face grew pensive for a few seconds before he shifted back into his seat. "Well. . .you were driving the car and then the missile hit and down you went into the crater. I saw it and went after you. I was. . .I was afraid you were hurt." 

"But why would you be on a base Duo? You're a. . ." she trailed off looking at him curiously as a thought occurred to her. "You're not exactly a civilian are you?" she moved, seating herself on the edge of the bed when he didn't reply, his eyes clearly avoiding hers. "Duo?" 

"What do want me to say? Something you would like to hear? Or something else that you may regret?" Duo paused, glancing up at her briefly. "I can't lie Morgan. Don't ask me to tell you the truth." 

"Then will you be honest with me if I ask you?" the expression of conflict in his eyes made her reluctant to say that. 

Duo gave a groan as he rubbed his face with his hands. "That's even worse." 

She rubbed his knee with a somewhat sad smile. "Then I'll tell you about me. You don't have to tell me about yourself, although I am starting to get a fairly good impression. You're probably wondering why I was on that base as well weren't you?" she took a deep breath before she exhaled slowly. "I'm a covert agent Duo. Every once in awhile, I get a mission with my partner or solo and I destroy bases or collect information. But either way you cut it, whenever I go out there with a mission, someone has to die. I may as well be the Goddess of Death." 

"No, don't say that Morgan." he said in a quiet voice. 

"Why not," she gave a seemingly nonchalant shrug. "It's the truth." she just never liked to dwell on the fact that she had caused more deaths upon the casualties of the battlefields. 

"You can't be the Goddess of Death." 

"It's a fitting title to one who has done nothing better but cause more death and destruction. That's the same thing I'm learning to prevent in school. I feel like such a hypocrite." she paused. "Why can't I be the Goddess of Death?" 

"Because I am the God of Death." 

"You're the God of Death huh?" she paused, not moving her hand. "And what does that make me?" 

Duo reached down and rested his hand on hers. "We can't have two Death's running around now can we? You're its opposite; you're the Goddess of Life." 

She looked up into his face as he looked at her, starting to open her mouth to protest but closed it when she saw the look in his eyes. She nodded her head as she squeezed his hand gently with a warm and accepting smile. Duo caressed her cheek gratefully, before he pulled her close and gave her a soft kiss. Morgan rested her forehead against his as she curled her hand around his neck. 

"We're going to make quite a pair huh?" she said softly in a joking tone. 

"Yeah; life and death." 


End file.
